Gehetag 3, Sixth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | Hexside School of Magic and Demonics
Principal Bump watched on as Luz traced out the sigil to gain access to Edalyn's "Room of Shortcuts", as she called it. Of course the Owl Lady would teach her apprentice how to get into some sort of hidden pocket dimension inside the school. Back when he was Vice Principal of Hexside, Bump would routinely get tasked by Principal Faust with catching Edalyn in the act of one of her numerous pranks, but she would always manage to disappear just in the nick of time. Now, though, Bump knew how she managed to pull off so many of those escapes.
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on!" Bump paused at Miss Noceda's sudden outburst. "I need to make sure there's… no wild animals loose in the room."
Bump gave Luz a flat stare. "What do you not want me to see?"
"There may or may not be a secret collection of students who are using the room to study all the tracks at once," Luz said, looking down at the floor. She really should have taken Eda up on that Lying to Authority Figures 101 lesson.
The principal sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Of course there is. We'll deal with that once we've got our current… situation under control. One problem at a time."
"Cool," Luz said. "In that case, let me go warn the others so they don't try to do something stupid."
Crawling through the hole, Luz entered the shortcut room. Making her way into the tower section, she saw Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus lounging about on a couch that had almost definitely been stolen from some sort of teacher's lounge. "Hey, guys. Can I talk to you for a second?"
Getting up from her spot, Viney walked over to the young basilisk. "Yeah, what's up?"
"Do you promise not to freak out?" Luz asked, deciding to try and not sugarcoat the situation.
"That depends," Viney answered slowly. "What do you not want us to freak out about?"
Luz stumbled through her explanation. "Well, y'see, umm… There's a greater basilisk inside the school who wants to kill everybody, but Bump managed to trap her inside the Paranoratorium. And, well, we can't exactly walk through the main doors because then she'd just kill us, so we kinda need to use the Room of Shortcuts to surprise her. Also, I had to tell Bump about this place, but I'm pretty sure he's cool with it since we're not using it for pranks."
"A basilisk?" Viney questioned. "Huh, I guess my cousin wasn't lying when they said a basilisk was running around St. Epiderm a few days back."
"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure the one who attacked Glandus and the one Bump trapped are one and the same. So, do you guys feel up to the challenge of saving Hexside from near certain destruction?" Luz asked, hoping she'd made a compelling enough case. If a single one of the Detention trackers didn't join in then Luz's planning would be all for naught.
"Let's do it!" Jerbo said excitedly. "This will definitely beat sitting around doing nothing."
I agree with Jerbo, so count me in as well, Barcus said.
"Viney?" Luz asked hopefully.
"There's no way I'm letting some giant slug ruin my education," Viney responded. "What do you need us to do?"
Luz held up her index finger. "I'll get to that, but I need to talk with Bump about something first."
"Hey, Princy B. So, uhh, when I use my glyphs, where does the magic come from?" Luz inquired. "It's not like there's an invisible bile sac or anything to draw from, is there?"
"No, there is not," the principal answered. "While I'm not certain, my best hypothesis would be that your glyphs draw power from the Titan itself."
"Right, okay. Unrelated question: are greater basilisks able to eat raw Titan magic?" Luz asked as a follow up. While was pretty sure that she already knew what the answer would be, she didn't want the Detention Trackers getting suspicious.
"I don't like where you are going with this, Miss Noceda," Bump intoned. "But to answer your question, I would assume not. None of the admittedly few texts I've read on the matter have ever mentioned a basilisk consuming something as dangerous as raw magic."
"Hmmm, alright," Luz said. "Viney, how many doors are there from here into the Paranoratorium?"
"There's four, I'm pretty sure. Three on ground level, and then one opens up from the ceiling over the stage," Viney answered.
Luz nodded. "I can work with that." Rubbing her hands together, she then made an announcement. "I think I've come up with a plan to save Hexside from the basilisk."
"Yo," Luz made her presence known to Number One, taking a seat on the edge of the stage, her legs dangling over the edge.
"Five? How did you get in here?" One asked, shocked at the sudden appearance. Slithering closer to the stage, she looked left and right, trying to see where her fellow basilisk could have come from.
"Don't worry about that," Luz replied. "I'm here to bust you out."
One took on a snarky tone. "Ahh, yes. Please enlighten me on how you plan to do that. If you haven't noticed, the only way out is blocked by an impenetrable barrier ."
"Really? Let me give it a shot." Hopping off the stage, Luz walked over to the shimmering red ward over the double doors. After looking it up and down, she then mimicked trying to push the doors open.
Walking back to One, Luz crawled back up onto the stage. "Welp, I gave it all I got. That thing is not budging."
"We're going to die here," One intoned after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Well, if we are gonna die, then can I at least show you something cool I found?" Luz asked, batting her eyelashes to up the cuteness.
One rolled her eyes and grumbled. "Fine, what is it?"
"Watch this." Pulling out her notepad of glyphs, Luz ripped a tiny light glyph off the first page. Activating the glyph, it crumbled into a small ball of light. Closing her mouth around the light ball, Luz pretended to drain its magic, but in actuality she just let it dissipate into nothingness.
"Ooh, that one was a lil bit spicy," she said, hoping to add to the illusion. "Do you want one?"
"I'm not hungry," One replied bluntly.
"Oh come on, at least try one!" Luz pleaded. "Please? For me?"
"Alright," One relented, "but just the one."
"Sweet!" Luz gave a celebratory fist pump. Tearing off the next glyph from her notepad, this one contained a much larger light glyph. Tapping it, a ball of light as big as Luz's head formed. "Here ya go!"
One gobbled up the light ball, draining it of all its magic in under a second. Then, she started screaming. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"
"Viney, now!" Luz yelled, kicking off the next step of the plan.
As the greater basilisk thrashed about, she was suddenly blindsided by a griffin charging full speed in her direction. While Puddles still had all his momentum, he leapt through a door that Jerbo had opened, dragging One into the Room of Shortcuts. Luz watched as a pair of vines then grabbed One and yanked her through yet another door, though this door opened from the ceiling of the Paranoratorium.
When Number One eventually crashed down onto the stage below, Jerbo then summoned a trio of abominations to hold her down. Walking over, Luz decided now was better than ever to apologize for what was about to go down. How much that apology would be worth was yet to be seen though.
"Hey there, One," Luz started, kneeling down to be at eye-level. "So you know that whole thing you told me about killing Bump and then razing the school? Change of plans, that's not gonna happen. Sorry. Barcus, you're up!"
As the abominations held One in place, Barcus uncorked a potion containing ground up sleeping nettles. Pouring the brew into Number One's mouth, Viney jumped in and wrapped her arms around the basilisk's jaw, holding it shut so she couldn't spit out the potion. Though One tried to fight back, Viney held fast, and One was eventually forced into swallowing the potion. Releasing her hold, Viney dashed away from the basilisk, making sure to stay out of magic draining range.
"You conniving, traitorous, no-good…" One directed at Luz, though her speech slurred as the sleeping nettles took effect. The greater basilisk was fighting a losing battle against both the abominations restraining her and the sleeping nettles working through her system. After a few seconds, she finally succumbed to the potion, entering a deep slumber that she would never wake from.
With One down for the count, it was up to Puddles to enact the last step of the plan. Biting through the rope that held up a cavalcade of sandbags, the payload was sent tumbling to the ground below, all of them on a collision course with the body of Number One. As the sandbags made contact, Luz turned away, not wanting to see the immediate aftermath. That didn't stop Luz from hearing what happened, though. That squishing sound would probably stick with her for the rest of life.
"I think I've just been scarred for life," Viney said plainly.
"Uh huh," Jerbo added, nodding along.
Barcus didn't say anything, but based on the 1000-yard stare he was sporting, he seemed to be handling it about as well as the rest of them.
Bump was somehow unfazed by what happened, though, as he nonchalantly brushed… something off his cloak. "Well, that was enough excitement for today. Miss Noceda, I want you to return to your scheduled class, and the rest of you should head back to the Detention track homeroom."
Luz was astounded at how little Bump seemed to care about what had transpired. "Dude, we just saved the entire school and you just expect us to act like nothing happened?!"
"Preferably, yes. I don't want to have to write up a report for the Emperor's Coven about all the damages. I'd like to keep this under wraps, as it were," Bump explained.
Luz groaned. "Let me reiterate: we just killed a greater basilisk who was threatening to kill everyone in the school. Don't you think that's deserving of something as thanks?"
Bump took a deep breath and sighed. "I suppose that's fair. Name your reward."
"Maybe you could, I don't know, allow us to study multiple tracks of magic?" Luz suggested, shrugging her shoulders.
"Of course you'd suggest that," Bump said with a wry smile. "This goes against every rule in the book, but I doubt that would stop any of you regardless. What tracks would you like to be in?"
"Woah, you're actually doing this?" Viney asked, to which Bump nodded. "Then sign me up for Beast Keeping and Healing!"
"I'd like to join the Plant and Abomination tracks," Jerbo added.
Oracle and Potions, please, Barcus said, his tail wagging happily at the prospect.
"I would have never guessed," Bump said with a wry smile. Snapping his fingers, the three Detention Trackers watched as their uniforms shifted from drab gray over to the colors of their newly selected tracks.
"And you, Miss Noceda?" Bump asked, turning to face the basilisk. "Call it a hunch, but I get the feeling that you want to be a part of multiple tracks as well."
"I do, Principal Bump," Luz confirmed. "I want to study on the Beast Keeping, Healing, and Potions tracks."
"Three tracks?" Bump wanted to make sure he hadn't misheard her. "That'd be an awful lot of extra work that you'd be taking on. Are you sure about that?"
"I think I'm up for the task," Luz said confidently.
"If you say so," Bump replied. Spinning a quick spell circle, Luz's uniform changed to reflect her new tracks. Her leggings shifted to the dark blue of the Healing track while her left sleeve turned to the shade of yellow representative of the Potions track. Only her right sleeve was untouched, remaining the orange indicative of her status on the Beast Keeping track.
"You will all start your new tracks next week," Bump explained, before turning to face the Detention Trackers. "You three will spend the rest of this week in detention. Consider it your punishment for going behind my back and eavesdropping on classes. After the week is up, though, you'll rejoin your classmates. Is that fair?"
"Fine by me," Viney said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Could've been worse, so I'll take it," Jerbo agreed. "I can't wait to see the look on everyone's face when we're back in class."
Your terms are agreeable, Barcus yipped.
"And as for you, Miss Noceda," Bump continued, turning to face the young basilisk. "I do believe you should be in class right now, so I suggest you see to that sooner rather than later. I doubt your teachers would like it very much if you skipped the first day of class."
Luz took that as her cue to see herself out of the Paranoratorium. "Got it. Thanks, Princy B!"
Bump didn't even bother to try and tell her to not use that nickname. Turning back to the Detention trackers, the principal shooed them away. "Go back to your homeroom, please. I've got a body to dispose of and it won't be pretty."
Gehetag 4, Sixth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | The Owl House
"Ooh, ooh, just got an idea!" Luz exclaimed. "How about… this!" Concentrating on her morph, Luz felt a third eye sprout from the center of her forehead while her hair turned a dark shade of pink and worked itself into a bun.
"Hello, peasants," Luz said, doing her best imitation of Boscha's voice, though she cranked up the snooty-ness to an 11. "It is I, Boscha Riegel. I enjoy eating garbage and being a horrible person for no reason." On the CB, Willow and Gus were barely able to contain their laughter at Luz making a mockery of the most annoying bully in all of Hexside.
While the three were supposed to be using the video call to work on homework together, it had slowly devolved into Luz morphing into various teachers and students and doing impressions of them. Unfortunately, an alarm on the CB went off, warning Luz that there was only 10 minutes until school started.
"Well, that's my cue. See you at school, guys!" Luz bade her friends farewell, waving goodbye.
"Bye Luz!" Willow and Gus said at the same time as Luz left the call.
After quickly putting on her school uniform, Luz gathered her backpack and made sure she had all of her school supplies for all three tracks.
"I can still barely comprehend that Bumpykins is allowing you kids to take multiple tracks," Eda commented from her spot on the couch. "Pretty sure Faust would have burst a blood vessel at the mere thought."
"Faust?" Luz asked, not familiar with the name.
"The old principal of Hexside before Bump took over," Eda explained, taking a swig of her apple blood. "The old coot was a huge stickler about rules and had a perpetual stick up his you-know-where. Bump was only the vice-principal back then, but he tried his darnedest to give the quote unquote 'troublemakers' a second chance that Faust didn't."
"Dang, that guy sounds like a pain," Luz said. "I'm suddenly much more appreciative of Bump being principal."
"Yeah, you've got it pretty good, kid. Don't take it for granted. Wanna hitch a ride on Air Owlbert to get to school?" Eda offered, giving the palisman a chin rub with her index finger.
"Nah, I think I'm just gonna fly over by myself," Luz responded.
Eda shrugged. "Your loss, kiddo."
"I'll be fine, Eda. It's a three minute flight, if that," Luz said.
Eda laughed. "I know. Just giving ya a hard time. Have a good day at school, kid."
Looking through the window, Eda saw a red-tailed hawk take off in the direction of Hexside.
As the minutes ticked past, King tried distracting himself by setting up a battlefield of plushies, while Eda mindlessly scrolled Penstagram to pass the time. "I already feel the sadness setting in," the tiny demon said from his post atop the couch.
"You'll be fine, King. Luz will be back in a few hours," Eda said, hoping to placate his fears about his sister friend not returning from school.
"Hey, party people!" Luz called out as she opened up the front door.
"I stand corrected," Eda grumbled.
King gasped. "Luz!" Leaping down from the couch, he bolted over to the basilisk and climbed until he was on her shoulder. "I didn't miss you one bit, but also never leave me again!"
"You're back early," Eda commented. "What's with that?"
"There was a pixie outbreak in the North wing, so Bump canceled school for the day," Luz explained.
"You youngins have got it so easy," Eda said. "Back in my day, they didn't cancel class. Even when –"
"MAIL'S HERE, HOOT HOOT!" Hooty screeched, snaking his way into the living room before barfing up the mail onto the rug. Eda shot the bird tube a death glare for getting the floor dirty.
As she pieced through the letters, sacrifices, offerings, and other miscellany, one advert stuck out to the Owl Lady. "Bonesborough Carnival, 1 day only," she read aloud.
"Ooh, that sounds fun! Can we go to the carnival, Eda?" Luz said, putting on her best puppy dog eyes. "Please? School is canceled and King and I both have nothing to do. We can make memories that will last us a lifetime and that we can look back on fondly when we're old and senile."
Eda did her best to keep her expression nonplussed, but she eventually relented. "Fine, we can go to the carnival. I'm coming with you, though. You rascals need adult supervision."
"You just wanna set up a scam stand and pickpocket people, don't you?" Luz responded, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah, but that's besides the point," Eda said, giving Luz an affectionate hair ruffle. "Alright. Adult responsibilities are taking a back seat today because we are heading to the carnival!"
As Luz explored the carnival grounds, she looked around, scouting all the potential rides she could go on, games she could play, and zany foods she could eat (and then undoubtedly regret eating later). She and King were currently all by their lonesome, as Eda had said that she "had a scam stand to run" and that "you dang kids will get in the way of me hustling fools." She did give the two of them 20 snails, though, so at least they had some cash in case they wanted to buy anything. In the midst of her exploration with King, Luz ran into a pair of familiar faces in Willow and Gus.
"Hey, guys! Fancy seeing you here," Luz said, running over to them, with King trailing not far behind.
"Hi, Luz. Hey, King," Willow said. "Can you believe our luck? The one day the carnival is in town and school gets canceled!"
"I know, right?" Gus added. "It's almost like the universe knew we needed a break from all the traumatizing events that have happened recently."
"Well, now that the quartet of coolness has reformed, where should we go?" Gus asked.
In response, Luz's stomach rumbled, probably due to the fact that she actually hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. "How about we get something to snack on while we wander?" the basilisk suggested. Eventually, the group found a stand selling fried orbs. What was in the orb? Luz wasn't sure, but she did know that it was very tasty.
"King, you can pick where we go next," Luz said. "Though no scarris wheel, please. I think riding that might make me toss my cookies."
"You have cookies? Why didn't I get any, then?" King complained.
"It's an expression. It means that I'd throw up," Luz explained.
After thinking about his choices, King came to a conclusion. "Let's do the bumper carcasses!"
Luz smiled. "Yeah, that's more my speed. To the bumper carcasses!"
After paying the entry fee, the group split into teams of two, and it would be Luz and King against Willow and Gus. Well, there were other people riding the carcasses as well, but that didn't matter to the group of friends.
Mounting their carcass, Luz and King quickly familiarized themselves with the controls. The cadaver was piloted by leaning in whichever way the duo wanted the carcass to walk, and they could make the cadaver swing its arms around by bopping it on the head.
Leaning forward, Luz sent her team's cadaver toward her opponents. "Prepare to feel the sting of defeat!" she announced boldly.
"You'll be the one going down, Noceda!" Willow countered. "Face our wrath. WRAHHH!"
As her team's carcass got within range of the other reanimated corpse, King began spamming the arm swinging action. Unfortunately, this sent the corpse's arms flying around so fast that they actually detached from the corpse, landing on the other side of the combat arena.
Luz looked down at King. "Bruh."
"Whoops?" King tried to play it off as an accident.
"The enemy is weakened!" Gus proclaimed. "Strike with a fury never before seen!" Marching the corpse forward, Willow sent its arms swinging in a slow, menacing pace.
"King, it's been an honor to fight alongside you," Luz said, accepting the inevitable defeat.
"What – what are you doing?" King was more than a little confused about what Luz was doing.
Luz shushed the tiny demon. "Shh. Let me be dramatic." Releasing her grip on the cadaver, Luz spread her arms out, accepting Willow and Gus' ferocious attack. As the corpse's arms struck her ride, Luz tumbled backwards and onto the hay below.
Looking down at the fallen basilisk, King hopped off the cadaver and helped Luz get back to her feet. "Sorry about breaking the corpse."
Luz brushed it off. "Eh, it's fine. Zombies can't feel pain. At least, I think."
"We are the cambions," Gus sang as he dismounted his team's corpse. Luz was pretty sure the young witch was trying to do a Freddie Aurum impression, but he was very much off key. "We are the cambions! No time to lose, 'cause we are the cambions!"
"Gus, that's not how the song goes," Luz interrupted his musical number.
The illusionist faltered. "What do you mean 'that's not how the song goes'? What other lyrics would even make sense?"
Luz just blinked.
"Not going to answer that question, we should get moving along. Where should we head next?" Luz asked.
"Hmm… How about the Hall of Mirrors?" Willow suggested. "It depicts what alternate versions of you would look like."
"Ooh, that does sound fun," Luz commented. "Lead the way!"
Weaving their way through the crowds, Luz saw that the entrance to the Hall had been chained off. Closed for reapers , a placard hanging off the chain read. "'Reapers'? Shouldn't that say 'repairs'?" Luz questioned.
"No, that sign just means that an army of mirror reapers have infested the hall," Willow explained. When Luz looked even more confused than before, Willow took that as her cue to elaborate. "Mirror reapers are interdimensional beings that live in the reflections of our reality. If you touch a mirror possessed by a reaper then it will take over your body and trap you in the mirror in its place."
"The Boiling Isles never fails to surprise me," Luz said. "I always think I've seen the craziest thing the Demon Realm has to offer, but then it gets one upped by something even more insane."
"That's part of the fun!" King said gleefully.
Luz giggled and gave the demon a noogie. "Sure thing, buddy." Rubbing her hands together, she looked around, seeing if any of the nearby stands caught her eye. "The Hall of Mirrors is a bust, so let's see what else this place has in store." Heading off in a random direction, Luz let her next stop be decided by the fates.
That was until Gus saw someone he recognized running one of the stands. "No way, is that Miss Luceritus! Miss Luceritus! Hi!"
"Well hello to you too, Gus," Luceritus said as the boy ran up to her. She then saw who was following behind him. "And Willow, as well? I swear, you two are inseparable."
Catching up to her friends, Luz saw that this stand was called Resurrections R Us. Since the basilisk had no idea who Willow and Gus were actually talking to, she let them lead the conversation.
"Hello, Miss Luceritus," Willow greeted the elderly witch with a wave.
"Hello to you too, dear. Though, I don't think I've seen you two in this neck of the Isles before," Luceritus continued, looking past Willow and Gus and focusing on Luz and King. "Who might you be?"
Stepping up next to Willow and Gus, Luz introduced herself and her favorite partner-in-crime. "Hi, miss. I'm Luz, and the goofball back there is King."
Luceritus nodded. "Nice to meet you two."
Clearing her throat, the carny then put on an exaggerated accent that Luz thought was a little over the top for her liking. "I am The Great Luceritus. I am a master in the art of divination, a necromancer extraordinaire, and also your local weather forecaster on the weekdays for BNN."
She then dropped the accent and resumed talking like a normal person. "Alright, kids, who do you want me to bring back? Given, I don't want to use up all my magic before lunchtime, so you're all getting 5 minutes with a single resurrection of your choosing."
"I'd like to talk with my mom, please," Gus requested.
"Creature of habit, aren't ya?" Luceritus said with a laugh, before spinning up a spell circle. "One Siobhan Porter, coming up."
Luz watched as a ghastly apparition rose from the ground in front of the booth. Initially a formless blob, it twisted and morphed until it settled on the form of a witch.
"Hi, Mom," Gus greeted the ghost. ( I wonder what the right term is? Luz thought. Ghoul? Spirit? Something else entirely? )
"Really? We haven't chatted in months, and all you can muster up is a measly 'Hi'," Siobhan said with a scowl. Eventually, the grumpy facade fell, and the two burst into fits of laughter before walking off to carry on their conversation in private.
"Alright, Park , which grandparent do you want me to bring up?" the necromancer asked Willow.
"Hmm…" Willow tapped at her chin as she contemplated her options. "How about Grandpa Fabian this time around."
"Spicing it up a little bit, I see," Luceritus commented before casting another spell circle and causing another apparition to form.
Once Fabian had fully taken shape, the first thing he did was give his regards to his summoner. "Thank you kindly, Luceritus. How much time do I have with my Petal before I have to go back?"
Luceritus brushed off the compliment. "Eh, it's no skin off my back. As for time? You've got a little under 5 minutes now."
Fabian looked flabbergasted at how little time he had with his granddaughter. "Five minutes? Then we've got no time for dilly-dallying! Come along, Petal. I' ve got some burning questions that need answering. First: has Gilbert tried out that recipe I left for him in my will? If he hasn't, then I want you to give him a proper tongue lashing. Tell him to stop being a coward and to make my Seven-Layer Bean Dip of Hell."
Luceritus looked at the last two kids remaining. "Which one of you wants to go next?"
"You can go, King," Luz said, sweeping her hand towards the booth.
With a grunt of effort (Aww, cute, Luz thought), King clambered up onto the counter. "The King of Demons is ready to meet his newest undead minion," he proclaimed.
"Yeah, that's not how this works," Luceritus explained. "I'm not gonna resurrect some random dead witch just so you can boss 'em around for 5 minutes. A friend who met an early demise, a deceased parent, an ancestor from generations back, those I'll do. I'll ask again: who do you want to talk to?"
Now that the rules had been clarified for him, King thought for a few seconds. Maybe the reason he'd never heard from his parents was because they'd both beefed it before he could meet either of them. While it was a grisly thought, this could at least offer some sort of answer.
"I want to talk to one of my parents," King said with finality.
"That's more like it. Got a name for either of 'em?" the necromancer asked.
"Oh, uhh… no," the tiny demon replied sheepishly.
Luceritus exhaled sharply. "Well, that'll throw a spanner in the works." Then, an idea struck her. "Would you mind if I take a look at your Soul Mark, then? That should have some information about your parents. It will make the search easier if I at least have something to go off."
"I've got no idea what that is, but the King of Demons isn't scared so bring it on." King put his paws on his hips and took on a brave face.
Spinning up a spell circle, Luceritus looked deep into King's eyes. The elderly witch stayed motionless, seemingly transfixed by whatever she was seeing. Suddenly, she seemed to snap back to reality, jerking away and blinking rapidly.
"Kid," Luceritus started, "I'm not sure how to break this too ya, but… your soul is messed up."
The statement drew an audible "weh!" from King. "Whaddya mean, 'messed up'?"
"All I saw was just a bunch of circles and triangles and such. Nothing I could actually translate," the necromancer explained. "Even if your mom and pops really are in the Below, I wouldn't be able to find 'em. Sorry, kid."
"Don't think of it like a bad thing, King," Luz chimed in. "Think of it like a mystery we're gonna solve together."
"Yeah," King replied. "I like that. Thanks, Luz!"
"And then there was one," Luceritus said in a faux-ominous voice, looking over in Luz's direction. "Who do you want me to call up?"
Luz rocked ever so slightly on her heels. "Actually, uh, I have a quick question, if you don't mind. When you're looking for a person's soul, can you only find souls from the Demon Realm, or do souls from, like, the Human Realm show up as well?"
"Only souls from the Demon Realm. Souls from the Human Realm don't stick around in the Below long enough to be catalogued," Luceritus answered nonchalantly. "Why do you wanna know, anyway?"
"I was just curious, that's all," Luz said quickly.
Luceritus gave Luz a skeptical look. "Right. So, name?"
"I know this might be a long shot, but could you find my dad? His name is Manny. Manny Noceda." If this all worked out, then Luz would at least one question about her life answered within the next five minutes.
The necromancer cocked an eyebrow. "Noceda, huh? That name ain't too common 'round these parts, so the search should be pretty quick. Give me a minute, I'll see if I can find your old man." Luz waited with bated breath as Luceritus worked her (literal) magic. Then, before her very eyes, the ghost of her father took form.
Luz couldn't control herself. "Papi!" Running forward, she tried to hug her father, only for her entire body to pass through like he wasn't there at all. Stumbling to catch herself from eating dirt, she watched as Manny slowly turned to face her. While Luz would have expected him to be happy about being able to see his daughter, the look on his face dashed those hopes. Though he was trying to put on a brave face, Luz could see that he was sad and afraid.
"Luz? Oh God no." Manny said, slowly walking towards his daughter. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, having fun at a carnival?" Luz replied, though it was more a question than a statement.
"No, no, no, no, no. I mean the Isles," Manny clarified. "What are you doing on the Boiling Isles?" He tried to grab Luz's shoulders, but his hands just phased through. "You need to go back home. Right now."
Luz was shocked by his statement. "What? No! I'm not gonna abandon Eda. I'm not gonna abandon King. I'm not gonna abandon Willow or Gus or Amity. For the first time in my life, I actually have friends. Heck, I'm learning magic! I can't just leave that all behind and act like it never happened. I'm not leaving, and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise."
"God, I wish you never inherited my stubbornness sometimes. Does Camila even know you're here?" Manny asked pointedly.
"No," Luz replied slowly, taking a step back to put more space between the two of them. "She thinks I'm off at some summer camp."
Manny sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Of course she does."
Raising his head, he looked Luz in the eyes. "Do you want to know why I never told you about the Isles? Because I just wanted you to have a normal, safe, human life. When you were born, I prayed to God, the Titan, whoever was listening, that you would never know what you really were. I prayed that you would always think you were just another human with nothing weird or magical about you and that we were just a normal, non-magical family. It was selfish of me to think that, though. I let all the horror stories Mom would tell me distort how I saw this place. I tricked myself into thinking that if you ever found a way to the Isles that it would be the twisted version that I had in my head and not how it really is. I guess what I'm trying to say is this. I'm sorry, Luz. I am so, so sorry. I lied to you. I lied to Camila. Hell, I lied to myself. I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Manny slowly exhaled, looking at the forest that surrounded him. While it wasn't like the picturesque fairy tales that he had read to Luz back in her younger years, the forests of the Isles still had their own unique charm. "You know, I forgot how pretty this place could be. Thank you for letting me see it one last time, Luz."
With that final goodbye, the ghost of Manny Noceda vanished.